Raincoat



F. W. HOWARD.

RAINCOAT.

APPLICATION FILED DEC.26, 1916.

1,358,852, Patented Nov. 16, 1920.

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BAINCOAT.

APPLICATION FILED DEC.26. 1916.

Patented Nov. 16, 1920.

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PATENTYOFFICE.

BAINCOAT.

Application filed December 26, 1916. Serial No. 139,900.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK W. HOWARD, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of the city of New York, in the county of New York and Stateof New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inRaincoats, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to water proof cloaks or raincoats of a simpletype, capable of being manufactured and sold for a nominal charge, withthe idea that these rain coats can be manufactured and placed on sale atmany points throughout each city, where they would then be available forpersons who have been unexpectedly caught in the rain. In order toaccomplish this gen-- eral purpose it is necessary to construct theraincoat of an inexpensive material. The material I employ is waterproof paper which is inexpensive but also more or less frangible andweak as compared with cloth. The general object of my invention is toproduce a raincoat which is very simple and lnexpensive; and further toproduce a raincoat which has a construction, particularly adapted to thefrangible nature of the material, that is to say the construction of theraincoat is such as to eliminate unnecessary seams and avoid thenecessity for sleeves. To this end the raincoat is of simple form, sofar as possible devoid of seams, and preferably of sleeveless form.

In its construction the raincoat comprises a cape anda skirt so formedthat arm holes are produced between the skirt and the cape through whichones arms are to be passed in putting on the raincoat. One of my objects is to provide such a coat with improved means for supporting theforward portion of the skirt from the shoulders; also to insure that thecape will operate effectively to cover the arms. For this purpose I mayemploy connecting means extending upwardly from the skirt, and I providefor reinforcing such connecting means where necessary to insure thatthey will stand the strains, to which they may be subjected.

Further objects of the invention will appear hereinafter.

In the drawing which illustrates a preferred embodiment of my invention,

Figure 1 is a front elevation and partial section partly broken away,and showing a raincoat embodying my invention;

vFig. 2 is'a plan of a one-piece blank, also Specification of LettersPatent.

' the Patented Nov. '16, 1920.

of m invention from which the raincoat may e formed; 1

Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken about on line 3-3 of Fig. 1 toillustrate the rela- -\t1on of the skirt and cape and the details of theconnection between them;

Fig. at is a front elevation and partial section of a raincoat embodyingmy invention and illustrated as though constructed from a built-upblank; 7

Fig. 5 is a plan partially broken away showing 'a built-up blank adaptedto form the raincoat illustrated in Fig. 4; and

F 1g. 6 is a detail horizontal section taken on the line 66 of Fig. 2 toillustrate details of a reinforcement I may use.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2 the raincoat comprises a skirt 1 and a cape3, said cape having a neck opening 4 located between shoulders 5. Thespace between the shoulders 5 and the upper side edges 6 of the skirtform the arm holes as at 6 through which the arms are to be passed inputting on the raincoat. In other words, the upper edge 6 of the skirtis located near the lower edge of the cape, and the edge 6 at each sidecooperates with the cape to form an armhole. The upper middle portion ofthe skirt at the rear connects with the lower middle portion of a rearapron 8 forming the rear part of the cape 3, and the forward portion ofthe skirt 1 is in the form of two flaps which extend around to the frontside of the raincoat. In order to support the flaps 19 and 20 which formthe forward portion of the skirt, I provide connecting means which ispreferably in the form of flaps 7 which extend up from the upper edge ofthe skirt, the upper ends of these flaps 7 being attached at an elevatedpoint to the inner side of the forward apron 8 of the cape 3. Theseconnecting means 7 perform a double function because they not onlytransmit the weight of the forward part of the skirt to the shoulders 5,but they also operate beneficially because the weight of the skirt tendsto hold down the forward apron on the breast. My object in attaching.the flaps 7 at an elevated point on the apron 8 is to provide a spacebehind the apron and in front of the flaps 7. which will receive thearms of the person wearing the coat and enable the cape to effectivelycover the arms. The extensions or flaps 7 are subjected to considerablestrain, particularly when the coat is worn in windy weather, andin-order to revent their being torn, particularly at their verticaledges 9, I prefer to provide these vertical edges 9 with a reinforcingcord 10, and I produce a hem 11 in these edges which envelo s the cord.

A coat, suc as that shown in Fig. 1, may be readily formed from aone-plece blank 12, such as that shown in Fig. 2. This blank comprises acape portion 13 havln a cen trally disposed gap 14 intended to orm theneck opening 4, and from this ap 14 d1- verging edges 15 extend outwar lWhlCll edges are intended to form the meeting edges 16 of the cape. Thecape portion 13 has side edges 17 which may be curved if desired asshown, and which extend up to meet the diverging edges 15. These edges17 form the lower edge of the forward apron 8 of the cape in thefinished raincoat.

Below the upper piece or cape portion 13,.

w ich, in the present instance, is formed integral with the capeportion. This lower portlon 18 has the flap 19 extending toward theright, and the similar flap 20 extending toward the left. In forming theraincoat these flaps extend around to the front, and in order tofacilitate the shaping of the raincoat to the body I providesubstantially vertical plaits between creases 18 which will come at thesides of the raincoat when completed, and facilitate its opening up toreceive ones body.

In forming this blank from a sheet of frangible material such as waterproof paper I simply cut the material so as to form gaps 19 and 20 ateach side, and adjacent to these gaps the up er edge of each of theflaps 19 and 20 is ormed with the extension or flap 7 referred to above.

Forming a raincoat from a one-piece blank expedites the formation of thecomplete coat. It is advisable to have the cape and skirt formed in onepiece, in this way, where it is possible to secure a sufiiciently largepiece of water proof paper, and also where it is not necessary for theforward apron of the cape to be of very great length. In this connectionattention is called to the fact that the peculiar shape of the blanknecessarily imposes a limit upon the length of the ca e at the front.This is evident from an inspection of Fig. 2, from which it will appearthat the upper portion of the flap 7 limits the length of the cape, thatis to say, the outer edge of the cape portion 13 cannot extend beyondthe inner u per corner of each of the flaps 7. For this reason,

if I wish to have a long cape at the front,

I prefer to produce the raincoat out of a blank which is built up ofpieces instead of being made of one piece. A raincoat formed from such ablank is illustrated in Fig. 4. The built-up blank comprises asubstantially rectangular skirt portion or skirt piece 22, the uppermiddle portion of which, adjacent the upper edge 23, is attached to thelower m1 dle portion of the cape piece 24. This produces an overlappingcircular segment at the back of the raincoat. I prefer that the edge 23be attached only part of its length, for example, I attach it betweenthe points 27 and 28. From the points 27 and 28, creases 29 are formed,extending vertically downward on the skirt portion 22. And farther outbeyond these creases 29 similar creases 30 are provided, producingplaits between them. These creases 29 and 30 have substantially the samefunction as the creases 18 shown in Fig. 2, but I am enabled to makethese plaits wider in this case, because the points 27 and 28 can belocated nearer the central vertical axis of the blank. Furthermore, itis evident that the points 27 and 28, as located in Fig. 5 are withinthe curved edge 26, and this operates to virtually increase theprojection of the edge 26 at the back of the corresponding gaps 27 a and28, adjacent these points which'are to form the armholes. In otherwords, the use of this builtup blank enables me to make the caperelativ'el longer and more effective as a covering or the arms.

It is evidentthat in this built-up blank, the blank presents flaps 31which extend in opposite dlrections from the middle of the blank likethe flaps 19 and 20. The upper edges 22 of these fla s 31 are providedwith connecting flaps 32 ormed of the same material, but made ofseparate pieces and secured along their lower edges 33 to the upperedges of the flaps 31. Obviously, if desired, the piece 24 may be madeso large that its edge 26 will extend beyond and over the flaps 32 whenthe blank is being formed. It is understood of course that in formingthe blank no connection is made between the flaps 32 and the cape piece24. This attachment is made only after the blank 110 is formed up intothe raincoat. When this has been done, the upper edges of the flaps 32are attached at an elevated point (see Fig. 4), to the inner side of theforward apron 35 of the cape 36.

The vertical edges 37 of the flaps 32 are preferably provided with cords38 similar to the cords 10 described in connection with the one-pieceblank.

In the one-piece blank I prefer to prothe raincoat will be dividedsubstantially vertically down the front and will have enough material toform an overla of the forward edges 41, see Fig. 4; and in order tosecure these overlapping edges together, I prefer to provide buttons 42riveted to the garment and carrying cords or ties 43, the ends of whichmay be passed several times around a fastener or button 44 attached tothe opposite edge of the coat.

In the blank of the form shown in Fig. 5 it is evident that thediverging edges 45 of the blank of the capeortion may be made as long asdesired. hen this line 45 is made long the cape can be made to hang witha considerable dip along its front line as will be evident from aninspection of Fig. 4, and it can also be made sufliciently long in thevicinity of the gaps 27 and 28 to insure that it will effectively coverthe arm-holes at the back. Furthermore, on account of the greater lengthofthe cape at the front it is evident that the garment as shown in Fig.4 will give greater freedom of movement to the arms under the cape, andwill enable one to carry bundles in the arms and under the cape.

In the finished raincoat of the form illustrated in Fig. 4 it is evidentthat the cape 36 will form shoulders 36" and will have a neck opening 36similar to the correspondilpg parts of the raincoat illustrated in It isunderstood that the embodiment of the invention described herein is onlyone of the many embodiments this invention may take, and I do not wishto be limited in the practice of my invention, to the particularembodiment set forth.

What I claim is:

1. A raincoat consisting of a cape having shoulders, and a neck openingbetween said shoulders, said cape comprising a rear apron and a forwardapron, and a skirt connected to the lower middle portion of the rearapron at the upper rear portion of said skirt, said skirt having a flapon each side extending around to the front side of the raincoat, saidflaps, each having an upper edge at each side below each shoulderwhereby an arm hole is formed at each side of the raincoat between eachof said edges and its corresponding shoulder, and connecting meansextending upwardly from the upper and forward portion of each of saidflaps at the front of said raincoat and connected to the inner side ofthe forward apron at an elevated oint so as to form spaces covered bysaid fbrward apron and lying in front, of said connecting means, toreceive the arms.

2. A raincoat consisting of a cape having shoulders and a neck openingbetween said shoulders, and having a forward apron, and a skirt havingan upper edge at each side near the lower edge of said cape, andcooperating with said cape to form an armhole at each side of theraincoat between each of said edges and its corresponding shoulder, saidskirt having extensions at the front projecting upwardly and attached tothe inner side of said apron at an elevated point so as to form spacesbehind said forward apron and in front of said extensions to receive thearms.

3. A blank for forming a raincoat consisting of an upper portion to forma cape, having a central gap to form a neck opening, and havingdiverging edges extending outwardly from said ap to form meetin edgesfor the for-ward si e of the cape, sai upper portion also having sideedges extending up to meet said divergin edges, and a lower portion ofsubstantia ly rectangular fdrm' having a flap extending toward one sideand another flap extending toward the other side, said flaps each havingan upwardly extending connecting flap to be attached to the said upperportion.

4. A blank for forming a raincoat, consisting of anupper piece to form acape, having a central gap to form a neck opening, and having diverginged es extending outwardly from said ga to orm meeting edges for theforward si e of the cape, said upper piece also having side ed esextending up to meet said diverging e gas, and a separate lower piece ofsubstantially rectangular form attached near its upper edge to themiddle lower portion of the said upper piece, and havin a fla extendingtoward each side, each of said flaps having a separate piece attachedthereto and extendlng upwardly from its upper edge to be attached to thesaid upper piece.

5. A blank for forming a raincoat consisting of an upper portion to forma cape, having a central gap to form a neck opening, and havingdiverging edges extending outwardly from said gap to form meeting edgesfor the forward side of the cape, said upper portion also having sideedges extending up to meet said diverging edges, and a lower portion ofsubstantially rectangular form,-having a flap extending toward eachside, said flaps each having an upwardly extending connecting flap to beattached to the said upper portion, a cord extending along the edge ofsaid blank, and a hem formed on thededge of of said blank envelopingsaid cor 6. A raincoat formed of frangible material consisting of a capehaving shoulders, and a neck opening between said shoulders, and havinga forward apron, and a skirt having an upper edge below each shoulderand near the lower edge of said apron whereby an arm hole is formed ateach side of the raincoat between each of said edges and itscorresponding shoulder, said. skirt having extensions of the frangiblematerial at the front projecting. upwardly and attached to the innerside of said apron at an elevated point so as to form s aces behind saidforward apron to receive t e arms, said extensions edges, and havingcords extending upwardly having substantially vertical along the saidedges, and hems formed at the said edges envelo ing said cords.

Signed at New ork in the county of New 10 Yorkand State of New York this20th day of December A. D. 1916.

FRANK W. HOWARD.

